Turning 30 and Blessed

Beyond Blessed

A reflection of my life upon turning 30.

I feel blessed beyond belief and my heart is overflowing with thanksgiving to God.

I just feel so...
Blessed...
Blessed for the lessons I've been given in patience, hope and faithfulness.
Blessed to have my faith to rest on when times are hard and I've been in the valley.
Blessed to have a God to thank at ALL times, but especially at the peak looking out over the journey I've just been on and how beautiful the view is from the mountaintop.
Blessed to have our son, healthy and wonderful in every way possible.
Blessed to be home with Levi; what an answer to prayer that opportunity has been.
Blessed to have a husband who loves me and provides so that I can be home with our child.
Blessed to have a part in my husband's calling as we partner together in ministry.
Blessed to have a community praying for me and my family and celebrating in the joyous occasions such as our son's baptism.
Blessed by the most supportive family who will travel to be with us for the big moments, from birth to baptism, as well as the just cause moments.
Blessed to have amazing friends near and far, from across town to a phone call away who are willing to meet up for coffee, plan a visit or coordinate when possible for me to get out and see them.
Blessed to have photography as a creative outlet and creative friends to share it with.
Blessed to have achieved so much already in my teaching career which given me confidence to know that it's okay to pause and focus my energy on a classroom of one for now.
Blessed to be living a lifelong dream of living in a city and truly one of the best.
Blessed to be in God's will after seeing His plans come to fruition.
I am BLESSED and humbled because there's nothing I've done to deserve such blessings but serve a Mighty and Loving God.

Retro post: Nana's 90th Birthday Party

My Nana turned 90 years old this year, so we had to CELEBRATE!

We had a party at my house complete with her favorite Italian dishes, flowers and great company all there to celebrate my amazing Nana.

Three generations

Time to eat...we had more people than could fit around the dining room table, so everyone made themselves at home and dug in.

Even Evie was there to celebrate...and Cola got to practice being a grandma!

Time for cake...and not just any cake...CHEESECAKE!

Happy Birthday dear NANA...

Happy birthday to you!!!

And many more...make a wish!

We all love you Nan and can't wait to celebrate 91 next year!

Las Vegas Vacations!

For our vacation this year, Adam and I headed to Las Vegas for a new adventure.

My parents were also headed there with Anna and Chris to celebrate her 21st birthday.

We stayed at Excalibur.

The first night in town, we got acquainted with the area and headed out to celebrate with Anna since her birthday began at midnight.

We checked out the strip.

Us four kids

A cool chocolate fountain

The hotels had so many beautiful areas.

My favorite hotel was Paris...surprised?

The fountains at Belagio...beautiful.

Then we headed to Paris for it's club The Chateau.

Anna getting IDed

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Anna and Chris...he bought the cute crown.

Sisters

Just the girls

The view where Anna rang in her birthday.

It was a fun filled night that wrapped up with Anna finding her room completely decorated!

The next day my parents rented a cabana by the pool and it was fabulous!

A definite highlight from the trip. The pool at the hotel was great and Adam and I soaked in lots of sun throughout the week.

That night we went to our first show, Criss Angel's Believe for a little magic.

After the show we had Anna's birthday dinner at a yummy Asian fusion restaurant called Rice.

Then the next morning, we had an amazing breakfast at Hash House a Go Go...AMAZING!

Mom and Brad ordered the chicken and waffles, which the restaurant is known for and it was AMAZING!

Anna also got to blow out her candles at breakfast with a biscuit...talk about a birthday week!

(Adam and I went back again at the end of our trip and enjoyed the chicken and waffles a second time.)

That night we went to see my favorite show from the week...Cirque Du Soleil's KA...it was really good and I would even see it again.

The next day, we took the car and drove out to the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon.

On the way we stopped for a helicopter ride from my parents. The views were spectacular!

At the Hoover Dam

(Views from the helicopter...wow!)

Lake Meade

From the Hoover Dam, we headed to the Grand Canyon.

The colors were beautiful and so unexpected!

To wrap up our dessert adventure, we got a little lost coming back from the Grand Canyon. At first I was all laughs, joking about surviving in the dessert and how Man vs. Wild would have me prepared, but then as the thought started to sink in it kind of scared me, but I just kept laughing. Well the more lost we got, the more nervous I became...for some reason my brain thought we were going to run out of gas and wind up stranded in the dessert...and we literally drove to the END of the road (which was unpaved) and the next thing I knew I was hyperventilating, crying and laughing all at the same time. That's right a panic attack and my sister and Adam were looking at me wondering what in the world was happening. It was pretty hilarious looking back at it even as I took deep breaths from a brown paper bag, which my mom was oh so prepared with.

See the road ended at a river...so we had to turn around and backtrack a bit, but we finally made it back to Vegas all in one piece.

My parents laughing as we reached the end of the road.

The bright side of getting lost was great memories of this adventure and some fabulous photo ops.

We spent a couple more days in Vegas exploring the hotels and chilling by the pool and Adam and I even enjoyed some spa time. It was a great vacation!